Rewind
by Victeoiria
Summary: The war cost too much and Harry is determined to change the outcome. With four books and his godson in hand, he throws himself back into the past determined to save everyone who had died, starting with Cedric Diggory. Will he be successful? Will the books of his past help them make a better future? Read to find out! (this story has been re-uploaded)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything within the franchise, do not sue me.**

Grimmauld Place had not changed at all since the last time that Harry, Ron and Hermione had last been there. Regulus Black's room still had papers and random objects scattered on the floor as well as drawers and other pieces of furniture open and turned over. Two boys currently stood in the shambles of the room facing each other, one holding a small baby in his arms, and the other fiddling awkwardly with a small sphere puzzle that must have been the younger Black brothers long before he had perished.

"You don't have to do this you know" Ron spoke suddenly, breaking the silence that had been shared between the two boys for the past twenty minutes "You know Hermione would kill us if she found out" he Mimicked Hermione's high pitched bossy tones "Bad things happen to those who meddle with time." Harry took a few seconds, gently running a finger down the puffy cheek of his sleeping godson before speaking. "You know I have to do this, I just, all of this was my fau…"

Ron spoke, cutting him off before he could finish "Mate, no one blames you for any of that, it wasn't your fault." His tone suggesting that they had had this very conversation many times before "If it wasn't for you, Voldemort would still be alive today! And who knows who else would be..." Ron didn't want to finish that sentence. It had been a month since the battle of Hogwarts and the deaths of their loved ones were still fresh in their hearts and the funerals hadn't even finished.

Harry looked at Ron and sighed, knowing that he wouldn't win this round. "I'm taking Teddy with me" Harry spoke suddenly, looking at the other boy in such a way to suggest that there was no room to argue. Ron held both his hands up "I'm not going to try to stop you, if everything goes to plan, it shouldn't matter anyway, but what about Andromeda?" This made Harry pause as he looked between Ron and the two-month-old "I can't leave him. besides, you said so yourself, if everything goes to plan, it won't matter." he spoke slowly, his voice held a certain air of uncertainty as he held Teddy closer to himself.

Ron looked away, giving Harry what little privacy he could. They had all lost a lot, Harry more so than most and Ron was not about to be the one who would take another thing away from him. "Do you have the books?" there was a pregnant pause as they both realised how little time they had left. "Yeah, in the bag" Harry muttered, gesturing towards the small muggle duffle bag that sat on the old and crooked bed, the zipper still open showing the books peeking out slightly from the folds of fabric. "And everything else you need?" Ron folded his arms and leant back against the wall behind him. He wouldn't admit it, but he was worried.

Harry nodded and passed Teddy over to Ron who quickly stood up straight looking a little unsure of himself as he held the baby close to his chest. Harry took no notice of this though as he was busy pushing everything against the walls of the room, leaving a large clean space on the floor in the middle of the room. He quickly grabbed Teddy's mosses basket that they had taken from Remus and Tonks old place for when Harry had Teddy over and placed it in the middle of the cleared aria and grabbed the duffle bag that held his cloak, map, photo album and the majority of his Gringotts vaults, placing it inside the mosses basket. He didn't worry about gathering anything more for Teddy other than the blanket and clothes he had around him. He could buy anything the baby needed once they got to their destination. Harry felt a small amount of guilt at leaving behind most of teddy's things, but he hadn't planned on taking the boy with him and there was little time to gather anything else.

"Do you have the time sand?" Harry looked to Ron and held out his hand expectantly. Ron quickly pulled out a fist sized jar filled with sand. "Are you sure this will work?" Ron looked at the sand sceptically. "Positive" Harry nodded. They had done enough research and the time turner sand was the last thing they needed.

Harry quickly took the jar and opened it, spilling it out in an even ring around the cleared space he had made, big enough that it would only fit Harry, teddy and the small amount of luggage that he was bringing. He paused and looked at Ron who was oddly pale, causing his freckles and red hair to sand out.

"Now or never, eh?" Ron managed to squeak out, passing the still sleeping Teddy to Harry, his Addams apple bobbing as he swallowed nervously. Harry quickly threw his arm around Ron in an awkward one-armed hug that ended as quickly as it started with neither boy looking directly at one another. "See you on the other side?" Harry whispered, not willing to talk any louder least his voice waver. "You bet" Ron croaked, coughing slightly and running a hand through is shaggy locks of hair. Harry hesitated briefly before walking to the middle of the circle, sparing one last glace to Ron and picking up his luggage before raising his wand high above his head. With a large bang and a flash of light, Fawks appeared right above harry and Teddy, setting the sand alight with a rainbow of flame. Harry closed his eyes and held Teddy loser as he was whisked away, four years into the past. The mournful tune of Fawks and a shaking, pale Ron was all that was left behind.

Harrys' vision swam before him as he landed back in 1994, an eerie feeling washing over him as his vision started to settle. He knew that to just come out to everyone out of nowhere would be dangerous, especially with Teddy. He refused to put his godson in danger because he rushed into things, He had done that enough. Before he could finish is train of thought, the door was thrown open and both Sirius and Remus walked through, looking like they had been in deep discussion. Harry didn't have enough time to hide and instead tried to shield his godson as much as he could as Remus and Sirius both stared at Harry in shock before both drawing their wands.

"Who are you?" Sirius growled, his rough voice sending a jolt through Harry who hadn't heard his godfathers voice in over three years "You know who I am" Harry responded, taking a slight step back. "Don't move" Harry paused as Remus lifted his wand higher, taking to warning to heart and not wanting to risk Teddy. "Now tell us who you are or I'll make it so you will regret the day you were born" Sirius's voice was harsh enough that it caused him to flinch. "You wouldn't really hex a boy with a baby, would you Padfoot?" Harry spoke waveringly, his voice taking on a slightly hysterically joking tone. "Harry?" Sirius spoke disbelievingly "Is that really you?"

He lowered his wand until it was hanging limply by his side. Harry gave a half smile and waved with his free hand "Hey Sirius" he chuckled and then shifted Teddy in his arms, who was now starting to wake up. "What are you doing here Harry, and why do you look so different?" Remus whispered "And where did you get the kid? Forgot to tell us something, eh Potter?" Sirius butted in. Harry chuckled nervously and tried to flatten his hair "Well. I came back". "Back?" Both Sirius and Remus asked in union, not sure what Harry meant. "From the future" Harry spoke so simply that it stumped the two men before him. Teddy started to cry loudly, his little face scrunching up and reddening. "Shhh, its ok Teddy, Uncle Harry is here"

He tried to calm the boy down, unwrapping him enough that both Sirius and Remus caught a glimpse of light brown hair turning into messy black locks. Once harry got Teddy settled enough, he took a deep breath and looked at the two stumped men before him. "I know it is a lot to take in, but you have to believe me. I came back from the future with these" He kicked the duffle bag over and out spilled four books. "These are the books of what I have gone through for the last four years, your next four years if you're wondering" He took another deep breath "The light won but it took too much of a toll, I need to fix things" Harry looked at the two men who seemed to finally believe him "Ok Harry, What do you need us to do" Remus said, being the calm voice that he usually was.

Harry sighed in relief. "I need you to gather these people here and soon" harry passed them a piece of parchment with rows of names on it. "Wait, why is Snape on this list?" Sirius snorted disbelievingly. "Because I trust him" harry spoke softly. "He isn't as bad as we thought he was" he murmured. He may not like the man still, but he wasn't as inherently evil as he once thought. Even if the man's motives were questionable, he sacrificed enough that Harry felt he deserved to hear the story too.

Sirius looked helplessly at Remus only for Remus to shrug, his eyes drawn to the baby in Harrys arms. "May I ask whose child that is, Harry?" Remus asked curiously, Sirius nodding as he was curious to hear the answer himself. Harry paused and bit his lip, looking between the baby and the two men. "I can't tell you now, all you need to know right now is that he is my godson. The rest will have to wait until after you read the books." Harry spoke, clutching Teddy to him tighter.

The two men exchanged curious glances but nodded. "Alright, we will call all these people in now, stay here while we explain everything, that way you don't end up with more wands pointed at you" Remus spoke softly before walking out of the room, Sirius behind him. "Hey Sirius?" Harry called out before he could leave, causing Sirius to pause and turn around curiously. "It's good to see you again" Harry croaked out. Sirius looked confused for a moment before giving Harry a signature grin "It's good to see you too pup" Sirius said with a smile before following Remus and shutting the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything to do with it, I don't have any money either, so don't sue me.  
****Anything Written in bold (that is not underlined) was written by J.K. Rowling and belongs to her.**

Harry sighed as he waited for Sirius and Remus to return, deciding to take the time to change and feed Teddy. Harry's heart ached for the small bundle in his arms, barely two months old when both his parent were torn away in a completely preventable war. "A lot of good people were taken in that war, Teddy. I'm just sorry…" He drifted off realising that Teddy would have no idea what he was saying. "It's ok, we can change that" He stated more to himself than to the child that now looked so much like him.

A soft knock on the door alerted him to Remus's presence. "Harry? We're ready for you." Harry nodded and grabbed the duffle bag, shoving the books back inside before following the werewolf down the familiar path to the kitchens. He could hear whispers as he got closer to the door "Do you really think he is who he says he is?" Mrs Weasley's hushed voice reached his ears. Harry tried to wrestle a smile off his face. He hadn't heard Mrs Weasley sound so lively since the battle.

They entered the kitchen and the room went silent. He scanned the room and though he knew what he would see, his heart wasn't prepared. Everyone he loved sat around a large dining room table that looked like it, as well as the room, had been expanded to fit everyone. Dumbledore, Snape, Sirius, Fred, George, Tonks, Remus, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill, Charlie, McGonagall and his younger self all sat there staring at him disbelievingly. Their confused faces all looked between him and Teddy. They were all here. His throat constricted as he looked at the faces around him and had to blink a few times. There wasn't a strained silence amongst everyone and besides Sirius, there wasn't that haunted look in their eyes that had been there since the war. "My name is Harry James Potter; I have come to save all of you from a war that will destroy every single one of you." He spoke slowly as to hide the waver in his voice. "And how do we know we can trust anything you say?" Snape's sneering voice cut through the air. Harry paused for a moment, a frown washing over his face. "You don't, but if I were anyone else, how do you think I got here? The house is still under the fidelius charm, no?" Snape's lip curled but he said nothing, instead turning to Dumbledore.

"Well I think that's sorted" Dumbledore spoke suddenly, clapping his hands together. "Now Harry, why don't you tell us how you plan to help us? Mr Lupin here has given us some details but I'm afraid the details are rather fuzzy." The familiar twinkle in his eye threw Harry off his train of though. He had gone through a lot for this man; He had looked up to him, trusted him, been betrayed by him and then forgiven him. Now he was here in the flesh, a man he had last seen lying broken and dead on the cold hard ground of Hogwarts. Harry once more was unprepared for the onslaught of feelings rushing over him. While he had forgiven the man, admittedly it had been easier to do so as the man himself had been dead. He found it a lot harder to do so seeing the man now before him.

"I brought three books of my past, his future" Harry said hoarsely, gesturing to his younger counterpart who looked rather alarmed at this. "They're all in my point of view. Hermione, my Hermione invented this spell that could turn your life, the major points at least, into books. She said something about it helping those after the war…" he drifted off realising that the details of how he made, or rather Hermione made the books were not important.

"So, you want us, to read books about Harry's future?" Ron spoke disbelievingly. "Yup" The Older Harry spoke, popping the P at the end. "Well I'm in" Ron answered finally, as though the matter had been settled. "May I take a look at these books, Harry?' Dumbledore's grandfatherly voice called out to him. Harry looked around at all the people in the room cautiously before looking to Remus "Can you hold him?" he said, gesturing between Teddy and Remus. The greying werewolf looked unsure of himself but nodded and held his arms out for the baby he didn't know was his. Harry looked at the father and soon, his eyes seeming to mist over as he did so, wishing that he could have gone back and saved his own parents but knowing that to do so would be selfish.

Harry picked up the duffle bag and placed it on the kitchen table before taking out four books and placing them in a row. "This book" Harry pointed to the first book on the table "IS called the 'The Goblet of Fire' It will have a little bit of the past, but the rest is of the future, just so you can catch where we are up to when it comes to the timeline." He took a deep breath before continuing "Once we have read that, we will move on to the Order of the phoenix, then Half-blood Prince and finally the Deathly Hallows" Dumbledore's eyes shot up to meet Harry's but the time traveller looked away quickly. "Any Questions?"

The room was silent as everyone processed all that he had said. "Right, well ill start then." Everyone sat around the table, the older harry at one end, Dumbledore at the other.  
"We will read a chapter each, taking turns." Everyone nodded at the time travellers' words. Harry nodded to himself before opening the book to the first page.

"**Chapter One, The Riddle House"**

"**The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it "the Riddle House,"**

All who knew who Tom Riddle was, shivered slightly.

"**Even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there. It stood on a hill overlooking the village, some of its windows boarded, tiles missing from its roof, and ivy spreading unchecked over its face. Once a fine-looking manor, and easily the largest and grandest building for miles around, the Riddle House was now damp, derelict, and unoccupied."**

"Gee, wonder why?" Harry muttered under his breath, causing Sirius, whom was sitting next to him, to give him a questioning look, only for harry to shrug and look down at the table.

**The Little Hangletons all agreed that the old house was "creepy." Half a century ago, something strange and horrible had happened there, something that the older inhabitants of the village still liked to discuss when topics for gossip were scarce. The story had been picked over so many times, and had been embroidered in so many places, that nobody was quite sure what the truth was anymore. Every version of the tale, however, started in the same place: Fifty years before, at daybreak on a fine summer's morning when the Riddle House had still been well kept and impressive, a maid had entered the drawing room to find all three Riddles dead.**

Everyone looked at each other with different expressions ranging from dread to suspicion. Dumbledore and Snape were the only two who did not give away their looks of horror.

**The maid had run screaming down the hill into the village and roused as many people as she could.**

**"Lying there with their eyes wide open! Cold as ice! Still in their dinner things!"**

"Dinner Things?" Fred looked to George with a raised eyebrow but only received a confused shrug in return.

**The police were summoned,**

"Police?" Ron turned and looked to Hermione for an explanation, only for Sirius to answer "The police is like a muggle Auror, they uphold the laws in the muggle world" Harry looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were a pureblood?" Sirius just smirked and gave him a small wink before ruffling his hair.

**And the whole of Little Hangleton had seethed with shocked curiosity and ill-disguised excitement. Nobody wasted their breath pretending to feel very sad about the Riddles, for they had been most unpopular. Elderly Mr. and Mrs. Riddle had been rich, snobbish, and rude, and their grown-up son, Tom, had been, if anything, worse. All the villagers cared about was the identity of their murderer - for plainly, three apparently healthy people did not all drop dead of natural causes on the same night.**

"No, they don't" Sirius spat bitterly, causing the older Harry to nod in agreement, a small disturbed look on his face. He knew what had happened to the Riddle family but kept quiet; the books would tell them in time.

**The Hanged Man, the village pub, did a roaring trade that night; the whole village seemed to have turned out to discuss the murders. They were rewarded for leaving their firesides when the Riddles' cook arrived dramatically in their midst and announced to the suddenly silent pub that a man called Frank Bryce had just been arrested.**

**"Frank!" cried several people. "Never!"**

**Frank Bryce was the Riddles' gardener. He lived alone in a run-down cottage on the grounds of the Riddle House. Frank had come back from the war with a very stiff leg and a great dislike of crowds and loud noises, and had been working for the Riddles ever since.**

**There was a rush to buy the cook drinks and hear more details.**

**"Always thought he was odd," she told the eagerly listening villagers, after her fourth sherry. "Unfriendly, like. I'm sure if I've offered him a cuppa once, I've offered it a hundred times. Never wanted to mix, he didn't."**

**"Ah, now," said a woman at the bar, "he had a hard war, Frank. He likes the quiet life. That's no reason to -"**

**"Who else had a key to the back door, then?" barked the cook. "There's been a spare key hanging in the gardener's cottage far back as I can remember! Nobody forced the door last night! No broken windows! All Frank had to do was creep up to the big house while we was all sleeping..."**

**The villagers exchanged dark looks.**

The younger and older Potter both exchanged looks and rolled their eyes. They knew how easily people turned on others. They, after all had been victim of the same thing multiple times.

**"I always thought that he had a nasty look about him, right enough," grunted a man at the bar.**

**"War turned him funny, if you ask me," said the landlord.**

**"Told you I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of Frank, didn't I, Dot?" said an excited woman in the corner.**

**"Horrible temper," said Dot, nodding fervently. "I remember, when he was a kid..."**

**By the following morning, hardly anyone in Little Hangleton doubted that Frank Bryce had killed the Riddles.**

**Almost everyone in the room sighed or made some sort of noise of outrage and disbelief.**

**But over in the neighbouring town of Great Hangleton, in the dark and dingy police station, Frank was stubbornly repeating, again and again, that he was innocent, and that the only person he had seen near the house on the day of the Riddles' deaths had been a teenage boy, a stranger, dark-haired and pale. Nobody else in the village had seen any such boy, and the police were quite sure Frank had invented him**.

Ginny shrunk in her seat slightly, knowing exactly who this man, Frank, had seen and wished that these 'police' thingies had been right, and Tom Riddle was just an invention of some old man's mind.

"**Then, just when things were looking very serious for Frank, the report on the Riddles' bodies came back and changed everything."**

Harry took a breath before continuing

"**The police had never read an odder report. A team of doctors had examined the bodies and had concluded that none of the Riddles had been poisoned, stabbed, shot, strangles, suffocated, or (as far as they could tell) harmed at all. In fact (the report continued, in a tone of unmistakable bewilderment), the Riddles all appeared to be in perfect health - apart from the fact that they were all dead. The doctors did note (as though determined to find something wrong with the bodies) that each of the Riddles had a look of terror upon his or her face - but as the frustrated police said, whoever heard of three people being frightened to death?"**

"Ever seen Ron around a spider?" Fred joked, nudging George as he did so, who laughed loudly. "Shut up" Ron muttered, flushing a bright red. "Leave your brother alone you two." Mrs Weasley glared at the twins, causing them to stop immediately and look down at the table to hide their identical grins.

"**As there was no proof that the Riddles had been murdered at all, the police were forced to let Frank go. The Riddles were buried in the Little Hangleton churchyard, and their graves remained objects of curiosity for a while. To everyone's surprise, and amid a cloud of suspicion, Frank Bryce returned to his cottage on the grounds of the Riddle House."**

"Poor guy" Harry, the younger one, said out loud, causing many to nod in agreement.

**"As far as I'm concerned, he killed them, and I don't care what the police say," said Dot in the Hanged Man. "And if he had any decency, he'd leave here, knowing as how we knows he did it."**

**But Frank did not leave. He stayed to tend the garden for the next family who lived in the Riddle House, and then the next - for neither family stayed long. Perhaps it was partly because of Frank that the new owners said there was a nasty feeling about the place, which, in the absence of inhabitants, started to fall into disrepair.**

**The wealthy man who owned the Riddle House these days neither lived there nor put it to any use; they said in the village that he kept it for "tax reasons," though nobody was very clear what these might be. The wealthy owner continued to pay Frank to do the gardening, however. Frank was nearing his seventy-seventh birthday now, very deaf, his bad leg stiffer than ever, but could be seen pottering around the flower beds in fine weather, even though the weeds were starting to creep up on him, try as he might to suppress them."**

Harry remembered the long list of chores he would be forced to do at the Dursleys and winced in pity for the old man.

"**Weeds were not the only things Frank had to contend with either. Boys from the village made a habit of throwing stones through the windows of the Riddle House. They rode their bicycles over the lawns Frank worked so hard to keep smooth. Once or twice, they broke into the old house for a dare. They knew that old Frank's devotion to the house and the grounds amounted almost to an obsession, and it amused them to see him limping across the garden, brandishing his stick and yelling croakily at them. Frank, for his part, believed the boys tormented him because they, like their parents and grandparents, though him a murderer.**

"What horrible children" Mrs Weasley shrieked, who only calmed down when her husband, Mr Weasley, placed a calming hand on her shoulder.

"**So, when Frank awoke one night in August and saw something very odd up at the old house, he merely assumed that the boys had gone one step further in their attempts to punish him."**

The Older Harry winced, as did the younger one, wishing that it was just some muggle boys.

"**It was Frank's bad leg that woke him; it was paining him worse than ever in his old age. He got up and limped downstairs into the kitchen with the idea of refilling his hot-water bottle to ease the stiffness in his knee. Standing at the sink, filling the kettle, he looked up at the Riddle House and saw lights glimmering in its upper windows. Frank knew at once what was going on. The boys had broken into the house again, and judging by the flickering quality of the light, they had started a fire."**

"Maybe you should just call the police" Hermione fretted but then blushed as everyone looked at her. "You realise this is just a book, OW!" Ron rubbed his arm as Hermione swatted at his arm to shut him up. "Sheesh woman"

"**Frank had no telephone; in any case, he had deeply mistrusted the police ever since they had taken him in for questioning about the Riddles' deaths."**

"Oh" Hermione's face darkened more; The older Harry chuckled softly and continued reading.

"**He put down the kettle at once, hurried back upstairs as fast as his bad leg would allow, and was soon back in his kitchen, fully dressed and removing a rusty old key from its hook by the door. He picked up his walking stick, which was propped against the wall, and set off into the night."**

Why do I feel like this wasn't the greatest idea?" Bill leant back in his chair, folding his arms. The others didn't say anything in response, but they knew nothing good could come out of this.

"**The front door of the Riddle House bore no sign of being forced, nor did any of the windows. Frank limped around to the back of the house until he reached a door almost completely hidden by ivy, took out the old key, put it into the lock, and opened the door noiselessly.**

**He let himself into the cavernous kitchen. Frank had not entered it for many years; nevertheless, although it was very dark, he remembered where the door into the hall was, and he groped his way towards it, his nostrils full of the smell of decay, ears pricked for any sound of footsteps or voices from overhead. He reached the hall, which was a little lighter owing to the large mullioned windows on either side of the front door, and started to climb the stairs, blessing the dust that lay thick upon the stone, because it muffled the sound of his feet and stick.**

**On the landing, Frank turned right, and saw at once where the intruders were: At the every end of the passage a door stood ajar, and a flickering light shone through the gap, casting a long sliver of gold across the black floor. Frank edged closer and closer, he was able to see a narrow slice of the room beyond.**

**The fire, he now saw, had been lit in the grate. This surprised him. Then he stopped moving and listened intently, for a man's voice spoke within the room; it sounded timid and fearful.**

The two Harry's looked at each other again, both their hearts beating just a little faster.

**"There is a little more in the bottle, My Lord, if you are still hungry."**

**"Later," said a second voice. This too belonged to a man - but it was strangely high-pitched, and cold as a sudden blast of icy wind. Something about that voice made the sparse hairs on the back of Frank's neck stand up. "Move me closer to the fire, Wormtail."**

Remus and Sirius hissed under their breaths, Sirius almost standing up if it wasn't for the tight grip that the younger Harry had on his arm, almost predicting the movement Sirius was about to make.

"**Frank turned his right ear toward the door, the better to hear. There came the clink of a bottle being put down upon some hard surface, and then the dull scraping noise of a heavy chair being dragged across the floor. Frank caught a glimpse of a small man, his back to the door, pushing the chair into place. He was wearing a long black cloak, and there was a bald patch at the back of his head. Then he went out of sight again."**

"Ugly little Git, isn't he?" Fred Snorted at Gorges words. Harry couldn't help but agree.

**"Where is Nagini?" said the cold voice.**

**"I - I don't know, My Lord," said the first voice nervously. "She set out to explore the house, I think..."**

**"You will milk her before we retire, Wormtail," said the second voice. "I will need feeding in the night. The journey has tired me greatly."**

The younger people blanched while the adults exchanged disgusted glances. "That's disgusting" Ron croaked. "I think I might be sick" Hermione said in agreement.

**Brow furrowed, Frank inclined his good ear still closer to the door, listening very hard. There was a pause, and then the man called Wormtail spoke again.**

**"My Lord, may I ask how long we are going to stay here?"**

**"A week," said the cold voice. "Perhaps longer. The place is moderately comfortable, and the plan cannot proceed yet. It would be foolish to act before the Quidditch World Cup is over."**

"Quidditch!" Fred and George shouted, throwing their hands up, causing the older Harry to startle. "Boys!" Mrs Weasley snapped, "Settle down"

**Frank inserted a gnarled finger into his ear and rotated it. Owing, no doubt, to a buildup of earwax, he had heard the word "Quidditch," which was not a word at all.**

"Yes it is" the twins muttered lowly as to not let their mother hear them, least they be forced to face her wrath once more.

**"The - the Quidditch World Cup, My Lord?" said Wormtail. (Frank dug his finger still more vigorously into his ear.) "Forgive me, but - I do not understand - why should we wait until the World Cup is over?"**

**"Because, fool, at this very moment wizards are pouring into the country from all over the world, and every meddler from the Ministry of Magic will be on duty, on the watch for signs of unusual activity, checking and double-checking identities. They will be obsessed with security, lest the Muggles notice anything. So we wait."**

**Frank stopped trying to clear out his ear. He had distinctly heard the words "Ministry of Magic," "wizards," and "Muggles." Plainly, each of these expressions meant something secret, and Frank could think of only two sorts of people who would speak in code: spies and criminals. Frank tightened his hold on his walking stick once more, and listened more closely still.**

**"Your Lordship is still determined, then?" Wormtail said quietly.**

**"Certainly I am determined, Wormtail." There was a note of menace in the cold voice now.**

"Determined to make my life a living misery" the younger Harry muttered louder than he had meant to, causing a few pitying glances to be thrown his way.

**A slight pause followed - and the Wormtail spoke, the words tumbling from him in a rush, as though he was forcing himself to say this before he lost his nerve.**

**"It could be done without Harry Potter, My Lord."**

Sirius looked panicked at the mention of Voldemort wanting anything to do with Harry, only for the said younger potter to squeeze his arm that he had still in his grasp.

**Another pause, more protracted, and then –**

**"Without Harry Potter?" breathed the second voice softly. "I see..."**

**"My Lord, I do not say this out of concern for the boy!" said Wormtail, his voice rising squeakily. "The boy is nothing to me, nothing at all!"**

The remaining Marauders winced at this, though they knew he was a traitor, they still remembered the glassy eyed boy he used to be and how Harry would call him Uncle Wormy long before the war ruined everything.

"**It is merely that if we were to use another witch or wizard - any wizard - the thing could be done so much more quickly! If you allowed me to leave you for a short while - you know that I can disguise myself most effectively - I could be back here in as little as two days with a suitable person -"**

**"I could use another wizard," said the cold voice softly, "that is true..."**

**"My Lord, it makes sense," said Wormtail, sounding thoroughly relieved now. "Laying hands on Harry Potter would be so difficult, he is so well protected -"**

"Damn right he is!" Ron shouted, slamming his fist on the table, only to blush bright red and sit back in his chair as though he had forgotten where he was

**"And so you volunteer to go and fetch me a substitute? I wonder...perhaps the task of nursing me has become wearisome for you, Wormtail? Could this suggestion of abandoning the plan be nothing more than an attempt to desert me?"**

**"My Lord! I - I have no wish to leave you, none at all -"**

**"Do not lie to me!" hissed the second voice. "I can always tell, Wormtail! You are regretting that you ever returned to me. I revolt you. I see you flinch when you look at me, feel you shudder when you touch me..."**

"Who wouldn't?" Harry muttered bitterly, his older counterpart nodding in agreement at hearing his words, causing the two to share a small smile between them.

**"No! My devotion to Your Lordship -"**

**"Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice. You would not be here if you had anywhere else to go. How am I to survive without you, when I need feeding every few hours? Who is to milk Nagini?"**

**"But you seem so much stronger, My Lord -"**

**"Liar," breathed the second voice. "I am no stronger, and a few days alone would be enough to rob me of the little health I have regained under your clumsy care. Silence!"**

**Wormtail, who had been sputtering incoherently, fell silent at once. For a few seconds, Frank could hear nothing but the fire crackling. The second man spoke once more, in a whisper that was almost a hiss.**

**"I have my reasons for using the boy, as I have already explained to you, and I will use no other. I have waited thirteen years. A few more months will make no difference. As for the protection surrounding the boy, I believe my plan will be effective. All that is needed is a little courage from you, Wormtail - courage you will find, unless you wish to feel the full extent of Lord Voldermort's wrath -"**

"What does he want Harry for?!" Sirius could no longer hold it back, all this talk of needing Harry sent a shrill of fear through him every time. He had already lost James and Lilly, even Peter in a way. He refused to lose his godson too. The older Harry looked at Sirius, having very similar thoughts. "It's ok Sirius, everything will be ok, and even if it's not, I came back to change it." This calmed Sirius enough that he sat back in his seat and nodded.

**"My Lord, I must speak!" said Wormtail, panic in his voice now. "All through our journey I have gone over the plan in my head - My Lord, Bertha Jorkin's disappearance will not go unnoticed for long, and if we proceed, if I murder -"**

**"If?" whispered the second voice. "If? If you follow the plan, Wormtail, the Ministry need never know that anyone else has died. You will do it quietly and without fuss; I only wish that I could do it myself, but in my present condition...Come, Wormtail, one more death and our path to Harry Potter is clear. I am not asking you to do it alone. By that time, my faithful servant will have rejoined us -"**

**"I am a faithful servant," said Wormtail, the merest trace of sullenness in his voice."**

The sneer reached almost everyone's faces once more "Pathetic" Ron muttered.

**"Wormtail, I need somebody with brains, somebody whose loyalty has never wavered, and you, unfortunately, fulfil neither requirement."**

Harry snorted, followed by Remus and Sirius "If that isn't the truth" Harry chortled

**"I found you," said Wormtail, and there was definitely a sulky edge to his voice now. "I was the one who found you. I brought you Bertha Jorkins."**

Hermione sniffled slightly and turned her head, thinking about that poor woman.

**"That is true," said the second man, sounding amused. "A stroke of brilliance I would not have thought possible from you, Wormtail - though, if truth be told, you were not aware how useful she would be when you caught her, were you?"**

**"I - I thought she might be useful, My Lord -"**

**"Liar," said the second voice again, the cruel amusement more pronounced than ever. "However, I do not deny that her information was invaluable. Without it, I could never have formed our plan,** **and for that, you will have your reward, Wormtail. I will allow you to perform an essential task for me, one that many of my followers would give their right hands to perform..."**

"So, if it was a lie… then what did Peter want with Jorkins..." The older Harry finished off before looking slightly nauseous. Everyone who caught on to his train of thought paled as well, feeling ill at the implications.

**"R-really, My Lord? What -?" Wormtail sounded terrified again.**

**"Ah, Wormtail, you don't want me to spoil the surprise? Your part will come at the very end...but I promise you, you will have the honour of being just as useful as Bertha Jorkins."**

**"You...you..." Wormtail's voice suddenly sounded hoarse, as though his mouth had gone very dry. "You...are going...to kill me too?"**

"We can only hope" Said Sirius in a wishful tone

**"Wormtail, Wormtail," said the cold voice silkily, "why would I kill you? I killed Bertha because I had to. She was fit for nothing after my questioning, quite useless. In any case, awkward questions would have been asked if she had gone back to the Ministry with the news that she had met you on her holidays. Wizards who are supposed to be dead would do well not to run into Ministry of Magic witches at wayside inns..."**

**Wormtail muttered something so quietly that Frank could not hear it, but it made the second man laugh - an entirely mirthless laugh, cold as his speech.**

**"We could have modified her memory? But Memory Charms can be broken by a powerful wizard, as I proved when I questioned her. It would be an insult to her memory not to use the information I extracted from her, Wormtail."**

The fact that Wormtail wanted her alive was even more disturbing than what was previously thought.

**Out in the corridor, Frank suddenly became aware that the hand gripping his walking stick was slippery with sweat. The man with the cold voice had killed a woman. He was talking about it without any kind of remorse – with amusement. He was dangerous – a madman. And he was planning more murders – this boy, Harry Potter, whoever he was – was in danger –**

"You don't say?" Harry said sarcastically. The adults looked at each other, concerned while the older Harry nodded, agreeing with her younger self.

**Frank knew what he must do. Now, if ever, was the time to go to the police. He would creep out of the house and head straight for the telephone box in the village...but the cold voice was speaking again, and Frank remained where he was, frozen to the spot, listening with all his might.**

**"One more murder...my faithful servant at Hogwarts...Harry Potter is as good as mine, Wormtail. It is decided. There will be no more argument. But quiet...I think I hear Nagini..."**

Sirius sneered and unconsciously pulled the younger Harry closer him, as though to shield Harry from Voldemort. The younger Harry was slightly shocked by this but welcomed the affection.

**And the second man's voice changed. He started making noises such as Frank had never heard before; he was hissing and spitting without drawing breath. Frank thought he must be having some sort of fit or seizure.**

**And then Frank heard movement behind him in the dark passageway. He turned to look, and found himself paralyzed with fright.**

**Something was slithering toward him along the dark corridor floor, and as it drew nearer to the sliver of firelight, he realized with a thrill of terror that it was a gigantic snake, at least twelve feet long. Horrified, transfixed, Frank stared as its undulating body cut a wide, curving track through the thick dust on the floor, coming closer and closer - What was he to do? The only means of escape was into the room where the two men sat plotting murder, yet if he stayed where he was the snake would surely kill him -**

Everyone sat on the edge of their seats, all bar the younger and older Harrys, one of whom was still reading the book and the other who was yanked halfway onto Sirius's lap, feeling rather like a child.

**But before he had made his decision, the snake was level with him, and then, incredibly, miraculously, it was passing; it was following the spitting, hissing noises made by the cold voice beyond the door, and in seconds, the tip of its diamond-patterned tail had vanished through the gap.**

**There was sweat on Frank's forehead now, and the hand on the walking stick was trembling. Inside the room, the cold voice was continuing to hiss, and Frank was visited by a strange idea, an impossible idea...This man could talk to snakes.**

The older Harry frowned "Smart Muggle" he murmured, too low for anyone else to hear.

**Frank didn't understand what was going on. He wanted more than anything to be back in his bed with his hot-water bottle. The problem was that his legs didn't seem to want to move. As he stood there shaking and trying to master himself, the cold voice switched abruptly to English again.**

**"Nagini has interesting news, Wormtail," it said.**

Everyone held their breath

**"In-indeed, My Lord?" said Wormtail**

**"Indeed, yes," said the voice, "According to Nagini, there is an old Muggle standing right outside this room, listening to every word we say."**

**Frank didn't have a chance to hide himself. There were footsteps and then the door of the room was flung wide open.**

"Oh no" fretted Mrs Weasley, Her husband looking equally as worried, not daring to say a word.

**A short, balding man with graying hair, a pointed nose, and small, watery eyes stood before Frank, a mixture of fear and alarm in his face.**

"Wormtail" The Marauders and the Potters hissed

**"Invite him inside, Wormtail. Where are your manners?"**

""Oh no, you have to run!" Hermione said wide eyed. Harry and Ron exchanged glances, bot thinking the same thing. No one dared to tell her that running was useless

**The cold voice was coming from the ancient armchair before the fire, but Frank couldn't see the speaker. the snake, on the other hand, was curled up on the rotting hearth rug, like some horrible travesty of a pet dog.**

**Wormtail beckoned Frank into the room. Though still deeply shaken, Frank took a firmer grip on his walking stick and limped over the threshold.**

**The fire was the only source of light in the room; it cast long, spidery shadows upon the walls. Frank stared at the back of the armchair; the man inside it seemed to be even smaller than his servant, for Frank couldn't even see the back of his head.**

**"You heard everything, Muggle?" said the cold voice.**

**"What's that you're calling me?" said Frank defiantly, for now that he was inside the room, now that the time had come for some sort of action, he felt braver; it had always been so in the war.**

**"I am calling you a Muggle," said the voice coolly. "It means that you are not a wizard."**

**"I don't know what you mean by wizard," said Frank, his voice growing steadier. "All I know is I've heard enough to interest the police tonight, I have. You've done murder and you're planning more! And I'll tell you this too," he added, on a sudden inspiration, "my wife knows I'm up here, and if I don't come back -"**

"**You have no wife," said the cold voice, very quietly. "Nobody knows you are here. You told nobody that you were coming. Do not lie to Lord Voldemort, Muggle, for he knows…he always knows…"**

Winces were seen all around the room, pitying the poor muggle who has had a hard life and was now faced with the most evil man of this era.

**"Is that right?" said Frank roughly. "Lord, is it? Well, I don't think much of your manners, My Lord. Turn 'round and face me like a man, why don't you?"**

Harry was mildly impressed with the man, but knowing how this ended, he wished he had gone back, just a little bit further, to save this man.

**"But I am not a man, Muggle," said the cold voice, barely audible now over the crackling of the flames. "I am much, much more than a man. However...why not? I will face you...Wormtail, come turn my chair around."**

**The servant gave a whimper.**

**"You heard me, Wormtail."**

**Slowly, with his face screwed up, as though he would rather have done anything than approach his master**

"I never thought I would have anything in common with that rat" Ron spat, Harry and Hermione nodding in agreement.

**and the hearth rug where the snake lay, the small man walked forward and began to turn the chair. The snake lifted its ugly triangular head and hissed slightly as the legs of the chair snagged on its rug.**

**And then the chair was facing Frank, and he saw what was sitting in it. His walking stick fell to the floor with a clatter. He opened his mouth and let out a scream. He was screaming so loudly that he never heard the words the thing in the chair spoke as it raised a wand. There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumpled. He was dead before he hit the floor.**

The women gasped and covered their mouths in shock, the men bowing their heads, paying their respects to the poor muggle who had died needlessly at the hands of a monster.

**Two hundred miles away, the boy called Harry Potter woke with a start.**

Sirius turned to the younger Harry; his eyes wide. "You saw that?" Harry bowed his head and tried to flatten his hair down, a nervous habit he had gained since he had returned to the wizarding world. "I, I didn't know that it wasn't a dream" The boy sighed and shook his head, feeling sick to his stomach.

"Well, that's the end of the first Chapter, who wants to read next?" The older Harry held out the book, taking the attention off of the younger version of him, if only for a little while.

"I will!" Hermione raised a hand immediately before taking the offered book. Everyone gathered themselves and prepared for the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything within that world, all rights go to J. .  
Anything that is in bold (that is not underlined) Belongs to J. **

"**Chapter Two, The Scar**" Hermione started.

**Harry lay flat on his back, breathing hard as though he had been running.**

"Finally, more about Harry!" Ron shouted, causing little Teddy, whom had previously been in a rather deep sleep to startle awake. "Oopse" Ron rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. The older Harry just chuckled and took the now crying infant from Remus, who looked quite lost, and rocked him gently in his arms, soothing the small child whom to everyone's astonishment, was slowly changing his hair colour to a dark crimson red. "He's a metamorphosis, like me?!" Tonks squeaked. Harry had, admittedly, forgotten that Tonks was there due to her being unusually silent. "That's rather rare you know, and only few bloodlines carry the genetics for it" she said, changing her hair colour rapidly to different colours of the rainbow before settling on to a dark red, much like Teddy's.

"Oh?" harry mused, his voice wavering. Hermione continued reading, seeing that the older potter wasn't going to give any more answers. Tonks gave Harry and Teddy a calculating look before turning to listen to Hermione, Maybe the book would give her answers.

**He had awoken from a vivid dream with his hands pressed over his face. The old scar on his forehead, which was shaped like a bolt of lightning, was burning beneath his fingers as though someone had just pressed a white-hot wire to his skin.**

Many people winced at this. "Too bad it wasn't just a dream" The younger Harry nodded, causing his future version to nod in agreement. Sirius and Remus exchanged dark looks, vowing to talk to Harry about his dreams later.

**He sat up, one hand still on his scar, the other hand reaching out in the darkness for his glasses, which were on the bedside table. He put them on and his bedroom came into clearer focus, lit by a faint, misty orange light that was filtering through the curtains from the street lamp outside the window.**

**Harry ran his fingers over the scar again. It was still painful. He turned on the lamp beside him, scrambled out of bed, crossed the room, opened his wardrobe, and peered into the mirror on the inside of the door. A skinny boy of fourteen looked back at him, his bright green eyes puzzled under his untidy black hair.**

Those who had met Harry's parents smiled fondly, Harry resembled his parents both in appearance and attitude quite well considering the poor boy had never met them.

**He examined the lightning-bolt scar of his reflection more closely. It looked normal, but it was still stinging.**

"Does your scar hurt often?" Bill looked between the two Harry's curiously. "Didn't start until we came to Hogwarts" the older one started "But it's getting worse each year" The younger finished. The Adults in the room frowned, not liking the sound of this.

**Harry tried to recall what he had been dreaming about before he had awoken. It had seemed so real...There had been two people he knew and one he didn't...He concentrated hard, frowning, trying to remember...**

"How the bloody hell, do you forget a dream like that?" Ron looked at the younger Harry incredulously only for both the Harry's to scowl at him in return. "Language, Ronald!" Mrs Weasley scolded.

**The dim picture of a darkened room came to him...There had been a snake on a hearth rug...a small man called Peter, nicknamed Wormtail...and a cold, high voice...the voice of Lord Voldemort. Harry felt as though an ice cube had slipped down into his stomach at the very thought...**

Both the Harry's nodded at this and shivered

**He closed his eyes tightly and tried to remember what Voldemort had looked like, but it was impossible...All Harry knew was that at the moment when Voldemort's chair had swung around, and he, Harry, had seen what was sitting in it, he had felt a spasm of horror, which had awoken him...or had that been the pain in his scar?**

"Could be both?" Charlie suggested.

**And who had the old man been? For there had definitely been an old man; Harry had watched him fall to the ground. It was all becoming confused. Harry put his face into his hands, blocking out his bedroom, trying to hold on to the picture of that dimly lit room, but it was like trying to keep water in his cupped hands; the details were now trickling away as fast as he tried to hold on to them…Voldemort and Wormtail had been talking about someone they had killed, though Harry could not remember the name…and they had been plotting to kill someone else…him!**

Both the marauders hissed under their breaths. "They won't be laying a single finger on Harry" Sirius was livid, Remus not far behind him, both of his hands were stark white as he gripped the arms of his chair just a little too tightly. The younger Harry flushed, not used to someone caring about him so much that they would be so angry on his behalf while the older Harry looked at the two with a soft fondness.

**Harry took his face out of his hands, opened his eyes, and stared around his bedroom as though expecting to see something unusual there. As it happened, there was an extraordinary number of unusual things in this room. A large wooden trunk stood open at the foot of his bed, revealing a cauldron, broomstick, black robes, and assorted spellbooks. Rolls of parchment littered that part of his desk that was not taken up by the large, empty cage in which his snowy owl, Hedwig, usually perched. On the floor beside his bed a book lay open; Harry had been reading it before he fell asleep last night. The pictures in this book** **were all moving. Men in bright orange robes were zooming in and out of sight on broomsticks, throwing a red ball to one another.**

"What's unusual about all that?" Fred and George asked in union. "It's unusual for Muggles" Hermione answered frustrated by all the interruptions

**Harry walked over to the book, picked it up, and watched one of the wizards score a spectacular goal by putting the ball through a fifty-foot-high hoop. Then he snapped the book shut. Even Quidditch - in Harry's opinion, the best sport in the world - couldn't distract him at the moment. He placed Flying with the Cannons on his bedside table, crossed to the window, and drew back the curtains to survey the street below.**

**Privet Drive looked exactly as a respectable suburban street would be expected to look in the early hours of Saturday morning. All the curtains were closed. As far as Harry could see through the darkness, there wasn't a living creature in sight, not even a cat.**

**And yet...and yet...Harry went restlessly back to the bed and sat down on it, running a finger over his scar again. It wasn't the pain that bothered him; Harry was no stranger to pain and injury.**

The adults and the two potters all winced at this.

**He had lost all the bones from his right arm once and had them painfully regrown in a night.**

"When was this?" Sirius yelped. No one responded, not wanting to upset the man further.

**The same arm had been pierced by a venomous foot-long fang not long afterward.**

"WHAT?!" was the explosive response to that. The only people who remained even slightly calm was Dumbledore and Snape, both of whom were looking rather shocked themselves. "Harry, you never told us this!" Hermione looked at the younger Potter disbelievingly. "Can we talk about this later?" the older Harry snapped. This was something that they couldn't change and he didn't come back just to fuss over the things that couldn't be changed.

**Only last year Harry had fallen fifty feet from an airborne broomstick. He was used to bizarre accidents and injuries; they were unavoidable if you attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and had a knack for attracting a lot of trouble.**

"I don't know what Hogwarts you're going to, Pup. But normal people do not get into that sort of trouble at Hogwarts." Sirius said, sending Dumbledore a dark look, reminding everyone that this man was indeed a Black. The younger boy just shrugged and looked down, trying to hide his blush at being called pup.

**No, the thing that was bothering Harry was the last time his scar had hurt him, it had been because Voldemort had been close by...But Voldemort couldn't be here, now...The idea of Voldemort lurking in Privet Drive was absurd, impossible...**

**Harry listened closely to the silence around him. Was he half expecting to hear the creak of a stair or the swish of a cloak? And then he jumped slightly as he heard his cousin Dudley give a tremendous grunting snore from the next room.**

Everyone chucked at this and both the potters scrunched up their nose.

**Harry shook himself mentally; he was being stupid. There was no one in the house with him except Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley, and they were plainly still asleep, their dreams untroubled and painless.**

**Asleep was the way Harry liked the Dursleys best;**

Again, the adults frowned. This was an odd statement for a child to be thinking.

**it wasn't as though they were ever any help to him awake. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were Harry's only living relatives. They were Muggles who hated and despised magic in any form, which meant that Harry was about as welcome in their house as dry rot.**

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius looked offended on Harry's behalf, whilst Remus started to get a bad feeling in his gut.

**They had explained away Harry's long absences at Hogwarts over the last three years by telling everyone that he went to St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.**

"Criminal Boys?" Ron mouthed confused. "Why would they say a thing like that?" Ron turned to the younger Harry confused, the others as eager to hear the answer. Harry just shrugged and gestured for them to keep reading.

**They knew perfectly well that, as an underage wizard, Harry wasn't allowed to use magic outside Hogwarts, but they were still apt to blame him for anything that went wrong about the house. Harry had never been able to confide in them or tell them anything about his life in the wizarding world. The very idea of going to them when they awoke, and telling them about his scar hurting him, and about his worries about Voldemort, was laughable.**

The bad feeling in Remus's gut grew, and the Adults exchanged wary glances.

**And yet it was because of Voldemort that Harry had come to live with the Dursleys in the first place. If it hadn't been for Voldemort, Harry would not have had the lightning scar on his forehead. If it hadn't been for Voldemort, Harry would still have had parents….**

The younger Harry blushed and looked down at the table. Though it was no secret that Harry wished he still had his parents, it was ever quite shown how much he did. Sirius laid a hand on the younger Harrys shoulder. "I miss them too" Harry looked up at his godfather and smiled.

**Harry had been a year old the night that Voldemort - the most powerful Dark wizard for a century, a wizard who had been gaining power steadily for eleven years - arrived at his house and killed his father and mother. Voldemort had then turned his wand on Harry; he had performed the curse that had disposed of many full-grown witches and wizards in his steady rise to power - and, incredibly, it had not worked. Instead of killing the small boy, the curse had rebounded upon Voldemort. Harry had survived with nothing but a lightning-shaped cut on his forehead, and Voldemort had been reduced to something barely alive.**

Everyone looked down and gave a moment of silence for their fallen friends, and the two boys in the room, both young and old, who had lost their parents that horrible night.

**His powers gone, his life almost extinguished, Voldemort had fled; the terror in which the secret community of witches and wizards had lived for so long had lifted, Voldemort's followers had disbanded, and Harry Potter had become famous.**

Both Harry's balanced at this but said nothing, knowing that no matter what they did, he couldn't change it

**It had been enough of a shock for Harry to discover, on his eleventh birthday, that he was a wizard;**

"You didn't even know you were a Wizard until your 11th birthday?!" Sirius sounded outraged, looking between the two Potters. "Well you already read that the Dursleys hate magic" the younger Harry snapped "Did you think they were going to sit down and tell me all about it?" Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times, not knowing on how to respond. Harry looked down ashamed, he didn't mean to snap at Sirius, he just hated that his home life was being flashed in front of everyone and he hated to see the pitying looks. They didn't care about his home life before, why start now? The older harry frowned and placed a hand on Sirius's arm before motioning to Hermione to continue

**it had been even more disconcerting to find out that everyone in the hidden wizarding world knew his name. Harry had arrived at Hogwarts to find that heads turned and whispers followed him wherever he went. But he was used to it now: At the end of this summer, he would be starting his fourth year at Hogwarts, and Harry was already counting the days until he would be back at the castle again.**

**But there was still a fortnight to go before he went back to school. He looked hopelessly around his room again, and his eye paused on the birthday cards his two best friends had sent him at the end of July. What would they say if Harry wrote to them and told them about his scar hurting?**

**At once, Hermione Granger's voice seemed to fill his head, shrill and panicky.**

**"Your scar hurt? Harry, that's really serious...Write to Professor Dumbledore! and I'll go and check Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions...Maybe there's something in there about curse scars..."**

Ron chuckled and thumped the younger Potter on the back "Got it in one their mate" causing Harry to lurch forward slightly and send an apologetic smile towards Hermione who just rolled her eyes and huff.

**Yes, that would be Hermione's advice: Go straight to the headmaster of Hogwarts, and in the meantime, consult a book. Harry stared out of the window at the inky blue-black sky. He doubted very much whether a book could help him now. As far as he knew, he was the only living person to have survived a curse like Voldemort's; it was highly unlikely, therefore, that he would find his symptoms listed in Common Magical Ailments and Afflictions. As for informing the headmaster, Harry had no idea where Dumbledore went during the summer holidays. He amused himself for a moment, picturing Dumbledore, with his long silver beard, full length wizard's robes, and pointed hat, stretched out on a beach somewhere, rubbing suntan lotion onto his long-crooked nose.**

"That does sound like a splendid way to spend the summer, Harry" Dumbledore mused to the now Blushing Potters, everyone else giggling at the same mental image.

**Wherever Dumbledore was, though, Harry was sure that Hedwig would be able to find him; Harry's owl had never yet failed to deliver a letter to anyone, even without an address. But what would he write?**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore, Sorry to bother you, but my scar hurt this morning. Yours sincerely, Harry Potter.**

The two Harrys snorted as the younger generation chuckled. "I dunno Harry, needs a bit more oomph, if you know what I mean?" The twins gave him identical grins.

**Even inside his head the words sounded stupid.**

"Glad you realised that mate" Ron chuckled before having a spoon thrown towards his head, that barely missed. "Boys!" Mrs Weasley scalded, causing the two smiling boys to look away.

**And so he tried to imagine his other best friend, Ron Weasley's, reaction, and in a moment, Ron's red hair and long-nosed, freckled face seemed to swim before Harry, wearing a bemused expression.**

**"Your scar hurt? But...but You-Know-Who can't be near you now, can he? I mean...you'd know, wouldn't you? He'd be trying to do you in again, wouldn't be? I dunno, Harry, maybe curse scars always twinge a bit...I'll ask Dad..."**

Hermione giggled and gave Ron a smug look "It sounds just like you, Ronald" The red haired boy blushed but said nothing, sending Harry a small glare that was shrugged off.

**Mr. Weasley was a fully qualified wizard who worked in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, but he didn't have any particular expertise in the matter of curses, as far as Harry knew. In any case, Harry didn't like the idea of the whole Weasley family knowing that he, Harry, was getting jumpy about a few moments' pain. Mrs. Weasley would fuss worse than Hermione, and Fred and George, Ron's sixteen-year-old twin brothers, might think Harry was losing his nerve. The Weasleys were Harry's favourite family in the world; he was hoping that they might invite him to stay any time now (Ron had** **mentioned something about the Quidditch World Cup), and he somehow didn't want his visit punctuated with anxious inquiries about his scar.**

The Weasleys smiled at the mention of themselves, and how much Harry seemed to care about them. Harry just flushed a dark red.

**Harry kneaded his forehead with his knuckles. What he really wanted (and it felt almost shameful to admit it to himself) was someone like - someone like a parent: an adult wizard whose advice he could ask without feeling stupid, someone who cared about him, who had had experience with Dark Magic...**

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Sirius sounded slightly offended. "You got my letter, didn't you?" The older Harry raised his eyebrow at Sirius who seemed to just remember this.

**And then the solution came to him. It was so simple, and so obvious, that he couldn't believe it had taken so long - Sirius.**

"took you long enough" Sirius mumbled too low for anyone to understand what he had said.

**Harry leapt up from the bed, hurried across the room, and sat down at his desk; he pulled a piece of parchment toward him, loaded his eagle-feather quill with ink, wrote Dear Sirius, then paused, wondering how best to phrase his problem, still marvelling at the fact that he hadn't thought of Sirius straight away. But then, perhaps it wasn't so surprising - after all, he had only found out that Sirius was his godfather two months ago.**

Sirius and Remus winced at this. These things were things that Harry should have known all his life, and would have if it wasn't for the demise of Lilly and James Potter.

**There was a simple reason for Sirius's complete absence from Harry's life until then – Sirius had been in Azkaban, the terrifying wizard jail guarded by creatures called dementors, sightless, soul-sucking fiends who had come to search for Sirius at Hogwarts when he had escaped. Yet Sirius had been innocent – the murders for which he had been convicted had been committed by Wormtail, Voldemort's supporter, whom nearly everybody now believed dead. Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew otherwise, however; they had come face-to-face with Wormtail only the previous year, though only Professor Dumbledore had believed their story.**

Remus frowned at the reminder of how he had failed Sirius and although he had apologised and been forgiven by Sirius for not trusting him, he could never seem to forgive himself for the betrayal. Sirius sensing the werewolf's thoughts, reached over and laid a hand on the man's shoulder. Wishing too, that things had turned out different but never blaming Remus for the way things were. If the roles were in reverse, he would have been the same. Peter was smarter than everyone thought.

**For one glorious hour, Harry had believed that he was leaving the Dursleys at last, because Sirius had offered him a home once his name had been cleared. But the chance had been snatched away from him - Wormtail had escaped before they could take him to the Ministry of Magic, and Sirius had had to flee for his life. Harry had helped him escape on the back of a hippogriff called Buckbeak, and since then, Sirius had been on the run. The home Harry might have had if Wormtail had not escaped had been haunting him all summer. It had been doubly hard to return to the Dursleys knowing that he had so nearly escaped them forever.**

The bells were ringing even louder for Remus. Why would Harry be so eager to escape his family to go live with a man who up until a few hours before, he thought betrayed his parents? Remus decided to look into things deeper and he hoped that he was wrong, whatever he was thinking.

**Nevertheless, Sirius had been of some help to Harry, even if he couldn't be with him. It was due to Sirius that Harry now had all his school things in his bedroom with him. The Dursleys had never allowed this before; their general wish of keeping Harry as miserable as possible, coupled with their fear of his powers, had led them to lock his school trunk in the cupboard under the stairs every summer prior to this. But their attitude had changed since they had found out that Harry had a dangerous murderer for a godfather - for Harry had conveniently forgotten to tell them that Sirius was innocent.**

Sirius raised an eyebrow at the younger Potter. "Forgot?" Harry blushed and looked down only for Sirius to burst out laughing and throw his arm around the younger boys' shoulder "That's my boy!" Harry beamed at this and leant into Sirius's half hug, the older harry both wistful and tankful that he had these memories. If anything went wrong, at least he would have these memories to hold onto. The others around him looked at the godfather and godson duo with fond smiles (all bar Snape who was sneering as per usual). The two deserved a little bit of happiness.

**Harry had received two letters from Sirius since he had been back at Privet Drive. Both had been delivered, not by owls (as was usual with wizards), but by large, brightly colored tropical birds. Hedwig had not approved of these flashy intruders; she had been most reluctant to allow them to drink from her water tray before flying off again. Harry, on the other hand, had liked them; they put him in mind of palm trees and white sand, and he hoped that, wherever Sirius was (Sirius never said, in case the letters were intercepted), he was enjoying himself. Somehow, Harry found it hard to imaging dementors surviving for long in bright sunlight, perhaps that was why Sirius had gone South. Sirius's letters, which were now hidden beneath the highly useful loose floorboards under Harry's bed, sounded cheerful, and in both of them he had reminded Harry to call on him if ever Harry needed to. Well, he needed to right now, all right….**

Sirius smiled at this. He liked that Harry needed him. He thought of the boy as his own, even when he was little Sirius saw him that way. Harry was his and he would always be there for him.

**Harry's lamp seemed to grow dimmer as the cold grey light that precedes sunrise slowly crept into the room. Finally, when the sun had risen, when his bedroom walls had turned gold, and when sounds of movement could be heard from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's room, Harry cleared his desk of crumpled pieces of parchment and reread his finished letter.**

**Dear Sirius,**

**Thanks for your last letter. That bird was enormous; it could hardly get through my window. Things are the same as usual here. Dudley's diet isn't going too well. My aunt found him smuggling doughnuts into his room yesterday. They told him they'd have to cut his pocket money if he keeps doing it, so he got really angry and chucked his PlayStation out of the window. That's a sort of computer thing you can play games on. Bit stupid really, now he hasn't even got Mega-Mutilation Part Three to take his mind off things.**

**I'm okay, mainly because the Dursleys are terrified you might turn up and turn them all into bats if I ask you to.**

"I would you know" Sirius mused only for Harry to roll his eyes and snuggled into Sirius' side, catching the man off guard.

**A weird thing happened this morning, though. My scar hurt again. Last time that happened it was because Voldemort was at Hogwarts. But I don't reckon he can be anywhere near me now, can he? Do you know if curse scars sometimes hurt years afterward?**

**I'll send this with Hedwig when she gets back; she's off hunting at the moment. Say hello to Buckbeak for me.**

**Harry**

**Yes, thought Harry, that looked all right. There was no point putting in the dream; he didn't want it to look as though he was too worried. He folded up the parchment and laid it aside on his desk, ready for when Hedwig returned. Then he got to his feet, stretched, and opened his wardrobe once more. Without glancing at his reflection, he started to get dressed before going down to breakfast.**

"That's the end of the chapter" Hermione announced. "Great, I'm starving" Ron stretched, exposing a small amount of pale skin. "Right, let's all have some lunch and then we will go back to reading" Mrs Weasley announced before standing up and pottering around the kitchen. The others all nodded in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or have any involvement in its making. I am just a bored 22-year-old writing a fanfiction.  
ANYTHING IN BOLD THAT IS NOT UNDERLINED WAS WRITTEN AND BELONGS TO J. !**

Everyone stood up out of their seats, giving themselves time to stretch their muscles from sitting down for so long. Mrs Weasley instantly started pottering around the kitchen, Hermione and Ginny lending a hand. It was at this moment that Sirius and Remus caught both the Harry's eyes and gestured for them both to follow into a secluded room. "What's this about?" The older Harry asked the two adults as the door was closed behind them and silencing charms were placed.

"We just wanted to pull the two of you aside and see how you two are coping" Remus said as he sat on the corner of a table that was placed at the back of the room. "I understand that this may be a more than unusual situation for the both of you" Sirius snorted, interrupting Remus's speech. "And It can't be easy having your private thoughts read out to everyone" Remus continued, glaring at Sirius who raised his hands in surrender.

The two Potters looked at each other, one with a slight blush to his face and the other in contemplation. The older Harry spoke first "I knew what I was getting into when I brought the books back and I think" he pauses briefly, his eyes only just leaving his younger counterpart. "That I speak for the both of us when I say that we don't mind a little embarrassment if it helps get everyone out the other side of this war alive"

The younger Harry nodded in agreement, a sheepish smile forming on his face as he flattened his hair over his forehead and sighed "I don't know what to think. I never expected my future self to show up with stories about my future, you know?" The older Harry shrugged, looking a little sheepish himself. "Sorry about that" he chuckled awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with anyone else in the room.

Harry knew there was probably more to this than just a simple check in, and braced himself for the reason they were really called here, but before anyone could utter another word, there was a knock at the door. "Sorry to Interrupt" Tonk's head peaked out from behind the door, little Teddy in her arms, their hair identical shades of bubble-gum pink "Molly sent me to tell you that food is ready" She smiled before ducking back out of the room.

"Well we can talk more later" Sirius stated, patting both Harry's on the shoulder before walking out the door, followed by Remus. The two Potter boys shared a quick look before following after.

Once lunch was over and everyone was settled back in their seats, Teddy was placed in another room. The small child had been worn out from being passed around so many people, his metamorphosis power running ramped with each person he laid his eyes on, so the older Harry thought it wise to let the boy have a nap after being fed. the room more quiet than usual as everyone was anxious to hear more about their future. What was so bad that someone from the future had to come back and change everything? "Who would like to read next?" The older Harry spoke up. "I suppose I could" Remus said reaching out to take the book before anyone could say another word.

"**Chapter 3 The Invitation**" Started Remus****

**By the time Harry arrived in the kitchen, the three Dursleys were already seated around the table. None of them looked up as he entered or sat down. Uncle Vernon's large red face was hidden behind the morning's Daily Mail, and Aunt Petunia was cutting a grapefruit into quarters, her lips pursed over her horse-like teeth.**

**Dudley looked furious and sulky, and somehow seemed to be taking up even more space than usual. **

The two Harrys snorted at this

**This was saying something, as he always took up an entire side of the square table by himself. **

The rest of the room either laughed loudly or looked at each other in disbelief. "How old is this boy?" Sirius asked trying to hide a snort. "He is only a few weeks older than me" the younger harry spoke through an eyeroll. Dudley always liked to hold it over Harry's head that he was the older of the two.

**When Aunt Petunia put a quarter of unsweetened grapefruit onto Dudley's plate with a tremulous "There you are, Diddy darling," Dudley glowered at her. His life had taken a most unpleasant turn since he had come home for the summer with his end-of-year report.  
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had managed to find excuses for his bad marks as usual: Aunt Petunia always insisted that Dudley was a very gifted boy whose teachers didn't understand him, while Uncle Vernon maintained that "he didn't want some swotty little nancy boy for a son anyway. " They also skated over the accusations of bullying in the report - "He's a boisterous little boy, but he wouldn't hurt a fly!" Aunt Petunia had said tearfully. **

****The Harry's again snorted, receiving some concerned looks from the adults around him. "What a horrible child!" Mrs Weasley sounded outraged "If it were one of my children." she was cut off when Mr Weasley placed a hand on her arm comfortingly having noticed that his children seemed to have shrunk into their seats. None of them ever wanted to have to face Mrs Weasleys wrath.

**However, at the bottom of the report there were a few well-chosen comments from the school nurse that not even Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia could explain away. No matter how much Aunt Petunia wailed that Dudley was big-boned, and that his poundage was really puppy fat, and that he was a growing boy who needed plenty of food, the fact remained that the school outfitters didn't stock knickerbockers big enough for him anymore. **

There was once more a round of snickers around the room whilst some of the adults, including Snape, looked rather mortified.

**The school nurse had seen what Aunt Petunia's eyes - so sharp when it came to spotting fingerprints on her gleaming walls, and in observing the comings and goings of the neighbors - simply refused to see: that far from needing extra nourishment, Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale.**

**So - after many tantrums, after arguments that shook Harry's bedroom floor, and many tears from Aunt Petunia - the new regime had begun. The diet sheet that had been sent by the Smeltings school nurse had been taped to the fridge, which had been emptied of all Dudley's favorite things - fizzy drinks and cakes, chocolate bars and burgers and filled instead with fruit and vegetables and the sorts of things that Uncle Vernon called "rabbit food. " To make Dudley feel better about it all, Aunt Petunia had insisted that the whole family follow the diet too. She now passed a grapefruit quarter to Harry. He noticed that it was a lot smaller than Dudley's. Aunt Petunia seemed to feet that the best way to keep up Dudley's morale was to make sure that he did, at least, get more to eat than Harry. **

"That vile woman!" Hermione shouted, standing out of her seat before realising what she had done and sat back down, her cheeks a dark crimson. "Harry is thin enough as it is" Hey!" harry interrupted, but Hermione continued over the top of him "He doesn't need to be on any stupid diet" she finished, her arms crossed and her hair frizzing around her face, looking very much like she was planning a protest.

Remus tried to ignore it but the more things he heard about this family, the more the bad feeling in his gut grew, and with just one look from Sirius, he knew he felt the same. ****

**But Aunt Petunia didn't know what was hidden under the loose floorboard upstairs. She had no idea that Harry was not following the diet at all. The moment he had got wind of the fact that he was expected to survive the summer on carrot sticks, Harry had sent Hedwig to his friends with pleas for help, and they had risen to the occasion magnificently. **

Those who knew what Harry was talking about brightened considerably. "glad we could help mate" Ron spoke, giving the younger Potter a thumbs up. The older Potter smiling fondly at the interaction.

**Hedwig had returned from Hermione's house with a large box stuffed full of sugar-free snacks. (Hermione's parents were dentists.) Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, had obliged with a sack full of his own homemade rock cakes. (Harry hadn't touched these; he had had too much experience of Hagrid's cooking.)**

Harry winced, feeling glad for the first time since arriving that Hagrid was not here to read this. It was not that he didn't want him here, but the man tended to be a bit loose lipped when manipulated in the right way and this wasn't something Harry was going to mess around with or risk getting into the wrong hands.

Those who had ever had Hagrid's cooking on the other hand winced and nodded in agreement, the younger Potter rubbing his jaw as though remembering biting into some of his rock cakes.

**Mrs. Weasley, however, had sent the family owl, Errol, with an enormous fruitcake and assorted meat pies. Poor Errol, who was elderly and feeble, had needed a full five days to recover from the journey. And then on Harry's birthday (which the Dursleys had completely ignored) he had received four superb birthday cakes, one each from Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and Sirius. Harry still had two of them left, and so, looking forward to a real breakfast when he got back upstairs, he ate his grapefruit without complaint.**

Those mentioned beamed proudly, the youngest male Weasley thumping the younger Harry on the back. "Glad we were of service mate" causing both the Potters to blush.****

**Uncle Vernon laid aside his paper with a deep sniff of disapproval and looked down at his own grapefruit quarter. "Is this it?" he said grumpily to Aunt Petunia. Aunt Petunia gave him a severe look, and then nodded pointedly at Dudley, who had already finished his own grapefruit quarter and was eyeing Harry's with a very sour look in his piggy little eyes.  
**

"Oi, keep your eyes on your own plate you fat lump of.." Ron's rant was cut off with Hermine elbowing him in the stomach "Ow, what was that for?" Ron glared at the frizzy haired girl but was pointedly ignored.

**Uncle Vernon gave a great sigh, which ruffled his large, bushy moustache, and picked up his spoon.**

**The doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon heaved himself out of his chair and set off down the hall. Quick as a flash, while his mother was occupied with the kettle, Dudley stole the rest of Uncle Vernon's grapefruit. **

The two Potters rolled their eyes. They were used to this kind of thing from Dudley. The others, on the other hand were outraged that someone could be as greedy to take food off of their own fathers' plate.

**Harry heard talking at the door, and someone laughing, and Uncle Vernon answering curtly. Then the front door closed, and the sound of ripping paper came from the hall.**

**Aunt Petunia set the teapot down on the table and looked curiously around to see where Uncle Vernon had got to. She didn't have to wait long to find out; after about a minute, he was back. He looked livid. **

****"Uh oh" started George "Someone is in trouble" finished Fred in a singsong tone, causing the younger Harry to stick his tongue out at the two. "Boys, behave" said Mrs Weasley, though she sounded more like she was saying it out of habit than anything, her attention too focused on the person reading.

**"You," he barked at Harry. "In the living room. Now. "**

****Sirius growled lowly, sounding a lot like his Animagus form "His name is Harry". Remus took a moment, frowning at the way Harry's family seemed to be around him, especially this uncle of his.

**Bewildered, wondering what on earth he was supposed to have done this time, Harry got up and followed Uncle Vernon out of the kitchen and into the next room. Uncle Vernon closed the door sharply behind both of them.  
"So," he said, marching over to the fireplace and turning to face Harry as though he were about to pronounce him under arrest. "So. "  
Harry would have dearly loved to have said, "So what?" but he didn't feel that Uncle Vernon's temper should be tested this early in the morning, especially when it was already under severe strain from lack of food. He therefore settled for looking politely puzzled.**

****"How do you look politely puzzled?" Tonks spoke suddenly, pulling an array of faces that did not even nearly come close to the description. "Oh, you didn't know?" said Fred smirking "It looks a lot like this" Fred then proceeded to stand up and try to mimic what Harry's facial expression looked like. Striking modelling poses as he did so. Or at least he started to before he was quickly ushered back into his seat by a frazzled Molly Weasley, much to the others amusement.

**"This just arrived," said Uncle Vernon. He brandished a piece of purple writing paper at Harry. "A letter. About you. "**

**Harry's confusion increased. Who would be writing to Uncle Vernon about him? Who did he know who sent letters by the postman?**

**Uncle Vernon glared at Harry, then looked down at the letter and began to read aloud:**

**Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,  
We have never been introduced, but I am sure you have heard a great deal from Harry about my son Ron.  
As Harry might have told you, the final of the Quidditch World Cup takes place this Monday night, and my husband, Arthur, has just managed to get prime tickets through his connections at the Department of Magical Games and Sports.  
I do hope you will allow us to take Harry to the match, as this really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; Britain hasn't hosted the cup for thirty years, and tickets are extremely hard to come by. We would of course be glad to have Harry stay for the remainder of the summer holidays, and to see him safely onto the train back to school.  
It would be best for Harry to send us your answer as quickly as possible in the normal way, because the Muggle postman has never delivered to our house, and I am not sure he even knows where it is.  
Hoping to see Harry soon,  
Yours sincerely,  
Molly Weasley  
P. S. I do hope we've put enough stamps on.  
Uncle Vernon finished reading, put his hand back into his breast pocket, and drew out something else. **

****"Well what was wrong with that?" Mrs Weasley frowned. Wondering how this could possibly upset the man

**"Look at this," he growled.**

**He held up the envelope in which Mrs. Weasley's letter had come, and Harry had to fight down a laugh. Every bit of it was covered in stamps except for a square inch on the front, into which Mrs. Weasley had squeezed the Dursleys' address in minute writing.  
**

Those who understood the muggle post system snickered while those who did not just simply looked confused. "I don't understand" Said Mr Weasley who sat scratching his balding head. It was unsurprisingly Hermione that spoke up "You only need one stamp Mr Weasley" she tried to fight a smile as those around them understood and too, chuckled under their breath.

**"She did put enough stamps on, then," said Harry, trying to sound as though Mrs. Weasley's was a mistake anyone could make. His uncle's eyes flashed.  
**

The people in the room (other than Snape, the brooding bat that he is) Snickered at Harry's attempt at placating his uncle

**"The postman noticed," he said through gritted teeth. "Very interested to know where this letter came from, he was. That's why he rang the doorbell. Seemed to think it was funny. "  
**

"I don't think you would know what funny was if it hit you in the face with a ten-foot beam pole" Sirius snarled.

**Harry didn't say anything. Other people might not understand why Uncle Vernon was making a fuss about too many stamps,**

"We really don't Harry" said Tonks, her hair now a vibrant blue.

**but Harry had lived with the Dursleys too long not to know how touchy they were about anything even slightly out of the ordinary. Their worst fear was that someone would find out that they were connected (however distantly) with people like Mrs. Weasley.  
**

"What's that supposed to mean?!" the Weasley children called out in outrage, the rest of the room not looking much different. "It's nothing personal towards Mrs Weasley" the younger Harry butted in. "He just doesn't like magic all that much" he finished sheepishly. This did not calm the rest of the room down. In fact, it seemed to offend them even more.

The two Harry's made eye contact and shrugged helplessly, not sure on what to say to make their friends feel any better. In doing so, they completely missed the look Sirius and Remus were giving each other. If these Dursleys didn't like magic, what were they like with the only magical child in their house? They were going to get to the bottom of this.

**Uncle Vernon was still glaring at Harry, who tried to keep his expression neutral. If he didn't do or say anything stupid, he might just be in for the treat of a lifetime. He waited for Uncle Vernon to say something, but he merely continued to glare. Harry decided to break the silence.**

**"So - can I go then?" he asked. **

****The adults snorted and shook their heads, fond smiles on their face. The younger generation however took turns in giving both rather bemused Harry's pats on the backs and handshakes. Fred and George stood up, clinking spoons on glasses to gather everyone's attention "Let it never be questioned" one started "That our Ickle Harrykins here" Finished the other before they both started shouting "Has great balls of" They were instantly quietened by a silencing charmed place by Mrs Weasley. "Now you two, sit down before I hide the both of your backsides" causing the two to sit down rather quickly, though their identical grins never left their face.

**A slight spasm crossed Uncle Vernon's large purple face. The moustache bristled. Harry thought he knew what was going on behind the moustache: a furious battle as two of Uncle Vernon's most fundamental instincts came into conflict. Allowing Harry to go would make Harry happy, something Uncle Vernon had struggled against for thirteen years. **

This caused the adults of the room to frown. Why would someone not want their nephew to be happy? The alarm bells were starting to ring for more of the people in the room and the Harry's started to notice the looks they were getting, causing the younger Potter to wriggle in his seat slightly and avoid eye contact with those around him.

**On the other hand, allowing Harry to disappear to the Weasleys' for the rest of the summer would get rid of him two weeks earlier than anyone could have hoped, and Uncle Vernon hated having Harry in the house. To give himself thinking time, it seemed, he looked down at Mrs. Weasley's letter again.**

**"Who is this woman?" he said, staring at the signature with distaste.**

**"You've seen her," said Harry. "She's my friend Ron's mother, she was meeting him off the Hog - off the school train at the end of last term. "**

**He had almost said "Hogwarts Express," and that was a sure way to get his uncle's temper up. Nobody ever mentioned the name of Harry's school aloud in the Dursley household.**

**Uncle Vernon screwed up his enormous face as though trying to remember something very unpleasant.**

**"Dumpy sort of woman?" he growled finally. "Load of children with red hair?"  
**

The Wasleys looked affronted at the description. Ron's face was almost the colour of his hair as he looked like he was about to explode. But shockingly, no one said a word. The younger Harry felt shame for what his 'family' had said about the Weasleys and shrunk lower in his seat.

**Harry frowned. He thought it was a bit rich of Uncle Vernon to call anyone "dumpy," when his own son, Dudley, had finally achieved what he'd been threatening to do since the age of three, and become wider than he was tall.  
**

This managed to cheer everyone up, snickers and full-blown laughter were heard around the room. Even Snape looked a little less grouchy than usual.

**Uncle Vernon was perusing the letter again.**

**"Quidditch," he muttered under his breath. "Quidditch - what is this rubbish?"**

**Harry felt a second stab of annoyance. **

The sentiment was echoed by all the quidditch fans in the room****

**"It's a sport," he said shortly. "Played on broom-"**

**"All right, all right!" said Uncle Vernon loudly. Harry saw, with some satisfaction, that his uncle looked vaguely panicky. Apparently, his nerves couldn't stand the sound of the word "broomsticks" in his living room. He took refuge in perusing the letter again. Harry saw his lips form the words "send us your answer. . . in the normal way. " He scowled.**

**"What does she mean, 'the normal way'?" he spat.**

**"Normal for us," said Harry, and before his uncle could stop him, he added, "you know, owl post. That's what's normal for wizards. "**

**Uncle Vernon looked as outraged as if Harry had just uttered a disgusting swearword. Shaking with anger, he shot a nervous look through the window, as though expecting to see some of the neighbours with their ears pressed against the glass.**

**"How many times do I have to tell you not to mention that unnaturalness under my roof?" he hissed, his face now a rich plum colour. "You stand there, in the clothes Petunia and I have put on your ungrateful back -"  
**

Harry was sure Sirius was going to bolt for the door and kill the Dursleys with the way he kept inching toward the door, his face almost twisted into a snarl and his fingers clenched tightly around his want, a few sparks flying off of the end every now and again. It wasn't even until Remus put his hand on Sirius's arm and whispered something in his ear that Sirius's face went blank and he calmed back down, nodding once.

**"Only after Dudley finished with them," said Harry coldly, and indeed, he was dressed in a sweatshirt so large for him that he had had to roll back the sleeves five times so as to be able to use his hands, and which fell past the knees of his extremely baggy jeans.  
**

It was at that moment that everyone actually looked at the younger Potter boy, noticing for the first time that he was in fact, wearing clothes far to big for him. They made the small boy look even smaller than he was. Remus and Sirius decided then and there that they would kidnap the boy and buy him an entirely new wardrobe and will burn the clothes that were handed down to him.

"Alright, alright" Ron said, noticing how uncomfortable Harry was with all the eyes on him "He isn't an animal in a zoo". Everyone collectively looked anywhere else but at harry, blushing faintly at how blatant they were staring at him.

**"I will not be spoken to like that!" said Uncle Vernon, trembling with rage.**

**But Harry wasn't going to stand for this. Gone were the days when he had been forced to take every single one of the Dursleys' stupid rules. He wasn't following Dudley's diet, and he wasn't going to let Uncle Vernon stop him from going to the Quidditch World Cup, not if he could help it. Harry took a deep, steadying breath and then said, "Okay, I can't see the World Cup. Can I go now, then? Only I've got a letter to Sirius I want to finish. You know - my godfather. "  
**

This seemed to cheer Sirius up, who had caught on rather quickly to what Harry was doing and sat up straight with pride. "that's my boy" he beamed at the younger potter, sticking his thumbs up at him before patting the older Potter on the back, causing the older Potter to blush and grin.

**He had done it; he had said the magic words. Now he watched the purple recede blotchily from Uncle Vernon's face, making it look like badly mixed black currant ice cream.  
**

"Lovely Description Harry" said Ginny wrinkling her nose. "Why thank you, I thought of it just for you" Harry said cheekily back without thinking, causing them both to blush deeply and look away from one another.

**"You're - you're writing to him, are you?" said Uncle Vernon, in a would-be calm voice - but Harry had seen the pupils of his tiny eyes contract with sudden fear.**

**"Well - yeah," said Harry, casually. "It's been a while since he heard from me, and, you know, if he doesn't, he might start thinking something's wrong. "  
**

"Indeed, I would Dirtily" Sirius growled, his teeth bared and a dark look crossing over his eyes.

**He stopped there to enjoy the effect of these words. He could almost see the cogs working under Uncle Vernon's thick, dark, neatly parted hair. If he tried to stop Harry writing to Sirius, Sirius would think Harry was being mistreated. If he told Harry he couldn't go to the Quidditch World Cup, Harry would write and tell Sirius, who would know Harry was being mistreated. There was only one thing for Uncle Vernon to do. Harry could see the conclusion forming in his uncle's mind as though the great moustached face were transparent. Harry tried not to smile, to keep his own face as blank as possible. And then -  
**

"and then what?" Ron interrupted, causing Hermione to roll her eyes and wack him up the back of his head. "You'll find out if you would stop interrupting and actually listen, Ronald" she huffed in exasperation.

**"Well, all right then. You can go to this ruddy. . . this stupid. . . this World Cup thing. You write and tell these - these Weasleys they're to pick you up, mind. I haven't got time to go dropping you off all over the country. And you can spend the rest of the summer there. And you can tell your - your godfather. . . tell him. . . tell him you're going. "  
**

The younger lot cheered, clapping whichever Potter they could reach on the back. "Who knew the golden boy had such a Slytherin side to him" George winked at the younger Potter. Said boy just laughed and shook his head. "Well I really wanted to go, you see?" he finished before turning back to Remus. **  
"Okay then," said Harry brightly.**

**He turned and walked toward the living room door, fighting the urge to jump into the air and whoop. He was going. . . he was going to the Weasleys', he was going to watch the Quidditch World Cup!**

**Outside in the hall he nearly ran into Dudley, who had been lurking behind the door, clearly hoping to overhear Harry being told off. He looked shocked to see the broad grin on Harry's face.**

**"That was an excellent breakfast, wasn't it?" said Harry. "I feel really full, don't you?"  
**

There was another round of laughter. Not many people knew Harry could be so smart lipped. "It seems you have inherited your mother's cheek" Remus smiled fondly, looking between the two potters. Those who had met Lilly Potter nodded in agreement. "The woman could almost disarm any opponent with her quick wit. Something she often used on James" Sirius nodded in agreement.  
**  
Laughing at the astonished look on Dudley's face, Harry took the stairs three at a time, and hurled himself back into his bedroom.**

**The first thing he saw was that Hedwig was back. She was sitting in her cage, staring at Harry with her enormous amber eyes, and clicking her beak in the way that meant she was annoyed about something. Exactly what was annoying her became apparent almost at once.  
**

The older Harry smiled fondly. He missed his old companion. It was with a sudden jolt to his system that he realised that she would be alive now, back in time that is. And just like magic, soaring though an open window soared a familiar snowy figure whom then landed on an almost teary-eyed time traveller's shoulder. "hey girl" he cooed softly, his younger counterpart watching the interaction with a dawning realisation and a pang in his heart. Things will change this time, they both thought to themselves. The rest of the room however were oblivious to this encounter and continued to read.

**"OUCH!" said Harry as what appeared to be a small, grey, feathery tennis ball collided with the side of his head. Harry massaged the spot furiously, looking up to see what had hit him, and saw a minute owl, small enough to fit into the palm of his hand, whizzing excitedly around the room like a loose firework. Harry then realized that the owl had dropped a letter at his feet. Harry bent down, recognized Ron's handwriting, then tore open the envelope. Inside was a hastily scribbled note.**

**Harry - DAD GOT THE TICKETS - Ireland versus Bulgaria, Monday night. Mum's writing to the Muggles to ask you to stay. They might already have the letter; I don't know how fast Muggle post is. Thought I'd send this with Pig anyway.  
Harry stared at the word "Pig," then looked up at the tiny owl now zooming around the light fixture on the ceiling. He had never seen anything that looked less like a pig. Maybe he couldn't read Ron's writing. He went back to the letter:**

**We're coming for you whether the Muggles like it or not,**

"Ronald Weasley, you did not say that!" Mrs Weasley looked at Ron sternly. "Well technically" he started meekly "I didn't SAY it. I wrote it" Ron ducked just in time to miss the swat to his head from Hermione. "What? I'm not wrong". No one chose to dignify that with a response.

**you can't miss the World Cup, only Mum and Dad reckon it's better if we pretend to ask their permission first. If they say yes, send Pig back with your answer pronto, and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday. If they say no, send Pig back pronto and we'll come and get you at five o'clock on Sunday anyway.  
Hermione's arriving this afternoon. Percy's started work - the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Don't mention anything about Abroad while you're here unless you want the pants bored off you.  
See you soon -  
Ron  
"Calm down!" Harry said as the small owl flew low over his head, twittering madly with what Harry could only assume was pride at having delivered the letter to the right person. "Come here, I need you to take my answer back!"**

**The owl fluttered down on top of Hedwig's cage. Hedwig looked coldly up at it, as though daring it to try and come any closer.**

**Harry seized his eagle-feather quill once more, grabbed a fresh piece of parchment, and wrote:**

**Ron, it's all okay, the Muggles say I can come. See you five o'clock tomorrow. Can't wait.  
Harry  
He folded this note up very small, and with immense difficulty, tied it to the tiny owl's leg as it hopped on the spot with excitement. The moment the note was secure, the owl was off again; it zoomed out of the window and out of sight.**

**Harry turned to Hedwig.**

**"Feeling up to a long journey?" he asked her.**

**Hedwig hooted in a dignified sort of a way.**

**"Can you take this to Sirius for me?" he said, picking up his letter. "Hang on. . . I just want to finish it. "**

**He unfolded the parchment and hastily added a postscript.**

**If you want to contact me, I'll be at my friend Ron Weasley's for the rest of the summer. His dad's got us tickets for the Quidditch World Cup!  
The letter finished, he tied it to Hedwig's leg; she kept unusually still, as though determined to show him how a real post owl should behave.**

**"I'll be at Ron's when you get back, all right?" Harry told her.**

**She nipped his finger affectionately, then, with a soft swooshing noise, spread her enormous wings and soared out of the open window.**

**Harry watched her out of sight, then crawled under his bed, wrenched up the loose floorboard, and pulled out a large chunk of birthday cake. He sat there on the floor eating it, savouring the happiness that was flooding through him. He had cake, and Dudley had nothing but grapefruit; it was a bright summer's day, he would be leaving Privet Drive tomorrow, his scar felt perfectly normal again, and he was going to watch the Quidditch World Cup. It was hard, just now, to feel worried about anything - even Lord Voldemort.**

Ron and Hermione groaned, causing the Gharry's to blush and everyone else around them to look on curiously. "Wasn't that a good thing?" Ginny asked slowly as though talking to toddlers. "Its just that you know things are going to go bad when harry says things like that" Ron ran a hand through his hair and leant back in his chair. "Well we all know what happened anyway" Harry mumbled softly. Before we start the next chapter, Remus and I would like to talk to Harry" Sirius looked at the two boys "The both of you". Suddenly the cries of Teddy could be from the other room "Whelp, that's me. You guys talk and sort out who will read next while I sort Teddy out" he spoke hurriedly as he ran out of the room. "chicken" his younger counterpart called out after him, only to hear a laugh in response.

"Now, Harry. If you will follow me" Remus said, leading him back to the vacant room they had occupied beforehand. "We need to talk"


End file.
